1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to meat processing, and more particularly, to a device for breaking the first joints of the forelegs of animal carcasses during slaughterhouse processing of the carcasses. The device has special utility in breaking the foretoes of sheep carcasses, although its usefulness is not confined to this operation.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
In the processing of sheep carcasses from the time of slaughtering to a state of readiness for the market, numerous operations must be performed upon each carcass. Many of these are carried out while the carcass is suspended head-down from a killing chain. One such operation carried out at this time is the breaking of the first joint in the forelegs of the carcasses--often referred to as "toe breaking."
The toe breaking phase of processing has, for the most part, heretofore been carried out manually, aided only by a knife. In such toe breaking, it is first necessary to sever the tendons of the foreleg at a location a short distance above the joint, followed by bending the toe relative to the axis of the foreleg until the joint snaps to expose the bone spool of the joint.
The task of the toe breaker is both tedious and physically fatiguing. The force required to snap the joints sometimes stresses the wrists of the toe breaker to the point of physical impairment, and in any event, the manual nature of the manipulations required necessarily limits the rate at which the carcasses can be processed through the toe breaking station.
Recently, a proposal has been forthcoming for mechanically, and to some extent automatically, accomplishing the toe breaking operation, thereby relieving the personnel at the toe breaking station from the necessity to manually, and with great physical exertion, snap the joints and sever the tendons. The mechanical apparatus which has been proposed for use in this operation is depicted and illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,058,872. This structure, representing the closest known prior art to the present invention, operates primarily upon the principle of extending the forelegs of the sheep carcass into a bifurcated or U-shaped mechanical bracket structure, which bracket structure is then hydraulically pivoted, thus twisting the leg of the sheep in a way which breaks the forelegs at the first joint.
In the utilization of the toe breaker apparatus shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,058,872, no attempt is apparently made to cut or sever the tendons in the leg of a sheep prior to breaking the toe at the first joint of the foreleg. This results, on occasion, in a break at the joint which does not cleanly expose the spool, and may instead expose sharp bone fragments.